Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Browsing: Microsoft
Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.
Microsoft has recruited conceptual photographer Garth Badger, architect Angus Muir and illustrator Kelly Thompson to launch its Surface Studio product.
Ipsos has released the results of its ‘Most Influential Brands in New Zealand’ study and technology brands lead the pack, with Google, Facebook and Microsoft taking the top three spots respectively, alongside four local brands.
Every year, StopPress asks players in the local industry for their reflections on the marketing year that was. Here’s what Jordanna Murray, Microsoft New Zealand’s Windows and Surface product marketing manager, has to say.
Microsoft NZ is giving Kiwis the chance to bring their dreams to the surface in a new competition campaign, with the help of Y&R, in which one winner will receive a year’s salary to unleash their creativity.
Microsoft is doing a pretty good job of reaching younger people through its marketing. It’s obviously noted that filming an ad of a laptop, slow panning over all of its sexy angles isn’t quite going to cut it anymore, at least not for all audiences. Recently it teamed up with Fairfax for a content partnership called The Change Makers to spruik its Surface Pro 4, which saw it reach out to a younger audience through the stories of New Zealanders-cum-influencers doing great things.
Microsoft’s combined offerings topped Facebook in last month’s website rankings, with Google unsurprisingly coming out on top according to a Nielsen report that tracks unique audience across all web browser usage, but does not include the use of mobile apps. Further down the list, Stuff retained its lead over the NZ Herald.
Nielsen has released its annual list of the top ten websites Kiwis visited over the course of December. And while the list was populated by the usual suspects, there were a few surprises in terms of the year-on-year changes for some of the websites.
Two weeks ago, Google announced it would stop selling its Google Glass Explorer, which went off the market on January 19. And this news coincided with an announcement from Microsoft on the release of a prototype of Hololens, a PC headset that runs on Windows 10.
Microsoft New Zealand is throwing down the gauntlet and challenging Google via a new campaign that will offer Kiwi small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) using Google apps a $25-per-user rebate if they purchase Office 365 before 30 April 2015 and switch before 31 May.
For the last 20 years, Sara Clemens has made an international name for herself in the tech industry, working for the likes of Microsoft, LinkedIn and now Pandora, where she was appointed chief strategy officer earlier this year. And while this title alone would be enough to intimidate some employees, Clemens thrives in these high-pressure positions and actually enjoys the challenge. StopPress recently had a chat with her about her previous successes and what she hopes to acheive in her new role.
Microsoft Surface New Zealand is jumping aboard the street art wagon, collaborating with FCB and renowned Kiwi street artists BMD to produce a bromance-y video showing the creative possibilities of the Surface Pro 3. The video kicks off a “purely social” campaign to be rolled out over the coming three months.
With ever better visuals, characters and stories, and even the addition of things like scents, games are getting more and more real. In its new TVC by Crispin, Porter and Bogusky, Microsoft warns obsessed gamers just how real things are getting.
It seems the days of the sedate product launch, held seated over a light lunch, are over as tech companies get ever more daring with their stunts. Plus: Samsung and Pead part company.
Mi9 is locally launching the versaTiles ad format it rolled out across the Tasman about six months ago, which it says makes it more accessible for advertisers to spread their message via email. The local versaTiles release follows Hotmail’s relaunch as Outlook.com, which has 1.2 million account holders in New Zealand.
Nine Entertainment Co recently announced it would take full control of Mi9 (ninemsn Pty Ltd), acquiring Microsoft’s 50 percent share in the joint venture. However, Mi9 will keep representing Microsoft’s suite of ad products under a long term strategic partnership.
It would be ungracious of Apple to create tablet ads mocking its competitors because it’s leading the pack in that field, however Microsoft has no such qualms when it comes to poking fun at the iPad.
I was unimpressed by Microsoft’s Surface RT, which was released in New Zealand earlier this year. I saw the potential in the device, but it was hamstrung by its poor performance and the lack of apps. The Microsoft Surface Pro is that potential finally realised.
Yesterday’s Xbox One reveal summarised in under two minutes. As someone who woke up at 5 AM to watch the announcement I can whole-heartedly say, this is pretty much bang on the money.
Sleepy geeks across New Zealand woke up at 5 AM this morning to take a look at Microsoft’s latest addition to the console wars, the Xbox One. General consensus seems to be Microsoft has another hit console on its hands – but many here in New Zealand are apprehensive about how many of the features announced this morning will make the flight across the Pacific Ocean.
Microsoft surprised the world last year when it unveiled the Surface RT, a tablet manufactured by what is traditionally a software company. I was blown away by its beautiful design and dissimilarities to the iPad. In a field of Apple clones, the Surface RT is refreshingly its own device. Microsoft launched the Surface RT in New Zealand earlier this year and for the past few weeks I’ve been giving it a test drive.
On average 115,000 Kiwis use Skype daily, and MSN New Zealand has added the site to its local advertising network, boosting MSN’s audience reach to over 2.3 million New Zealand internet users.
I was lucky enough to recently attend the largest Event & Experiential Marketing summit in the world in Chicago. I immersed myself in three days of learning with over 500 others from around the world and came away feeling a whole bunch of things: inspired (absolutely), brain whipped (definitely), and connected (in a myriad of ways). But mostly I feel charged up about the future of the industry in New Zealand.
The online realm is a rather fluid and exciting space at the moment. Companies large and small are chopping, changing and innovating in the quest to find the most effective model and close the gap between eyeball numbers and ad dollars. And MSN, with its parent company ninemsn, is set to embark on some big changes, with a new corporate umbrella brand called Mi9 that will encompass all of its brands, new ad exchange technology that basically creates a stock-market for online inventory, an increased focus on behaviourial targeting and a renewed effort to bump up online news numbers with a portal overhaul.
ANZ launched its big Rugby World Cup promotion with much pomp and ceremony last week. But it’s obviously not too late to get involved, because Microsoft New Zealand announced today that it has signed up as an official sponsor of the tournament.
In a bid to capture consumers in the lead-up to Christmas (which is—deep breath—less than eight weeks away), HP and Microsoft have teamed up and established a temporary pop-up store in central Auckland. Called Ten O’Connell, the store opened on Thursday night and will remain popped-up for …
Porter Novelli reeled in one of the biggest accounts in the country yesterday after it was appointed as Microsoft’s “public relations agency of record for product and corporate communications”. And, adding to the new account festivities, Big Communications and NewImproved have been enlisted as the creative agency partners for the hospitality arm of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Cheeky slaves claim lunch. And it’s even moderately relevant to Auckland.
A nice case of Microsoft burn.